Entry #2
9-19-06
We met up with our church group at the Frankfurt airport. Their plane landed an hour late, so it was hard waiting for them. When they arrived, we headed off toward the Unification Monument. It had a great view of Rhudeshiem (check the spelling). This monument was built to represent the coming together of all the German states, the first time, just before 1900.
After seeing the monument, we took a boat cruise on the Rhine river. It was two hours long, got a little boring, but we were able to see many castles. Some of them had been turned into hotels; others were under construction or in ruins still.
After the river cruise, we drove to our hotel, and went to bed after dinner. YES!
9-20-06
We drove to Eisenach and went to the Luther House where Martin Luther was born. We also went to the Church of St. George, this is where Luther preached. Then we went to Wartburg Castle, where Luther translated the bible. Richard Wagner also composed an opera here about a long competition that went on here. (It is 4 hours long!!) I am glad I didn’t see it. I guess?
9-21-06
We went to Erfert, Germany. This is where Luther became a monk after his friend was struck by lightening in a bad storm. Although Luther survived, his friend died. Later on, after so many years, Luther was “ordained” (became a priest) at the Augustinian Cloister. The church was closed for renovation, but we were able to get into the monastery. In the monastery, on one of the 3 stained glass windows was where Luther got his ideas for the Luther seal. The monastery was very pretty and the organ was HUGE and it sounded great!
We also went to the house where Luther died, in Eisleben, in 1546.. We had to rush through it, because it was right after lunch, but our food didn’t come for almost an hour. We stayed behind as the rest of the group did the tour, and then we ran through it.
9-22-06
Today was a pretty laid back day, even though we went to Wittenburg to see the University where Luther taught and to the Castle Church where Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the church doors. We went to the Lutherhalle, I think we could have spent the day there and still would not have looked and read all of it! The rest of the day we spent on the bus riding to Berlin. My sister slept while I read 137 pages in my book!!
9-23-06
Today (in Berlin) we had a step on tour where a tour guide is on the bus for half the day to tell us about everything we see. It was amazing how much she new. After the , maybe 100th church it got a little boring. We went to the old Berlin Wall. People were allowed to draw pictures on what was left of the wall and some of the pictures were quite amusing!! When this finally finished we had 3 hours of SHOPPING TIME!!!! Sadly we found a bunch of stuff for my sister and other people but I just didn’t see anything I liked. Afterwards we went to this restaurant that was supposed to be very proper and dress upy, but it turned out to be a nice looking restaurant with the attitude of a BAR!! Personally I hate alcohol, wine, beer, or anything close so I felt sick watching them pass out beers after beers. Besides that it was really fun and surprisingly most of the songs were in English! They even played the chicken dance. It was funny to watch a bunch of old men and adults do that!
9-24-06
This morning we drove to Dresden (eastern Germany). After a couple hours of driving we stopped at a bunch of museums and churches. After we had lunch we went to the Green Vault! I don’t know if the guys would like it but the Green Vault is a museum with rooms filled with gems and diamonds and gold and so on. It was amazing!! There were a bunch of jewelry and other items that Kings and Queens owned. It was beautiful!! Next we went to a church that had been bombed during the 2nd World War. It had been reconstructed and it too was beautiful!! Tonight we stay in leipsig.
Most frequently used words in French! Most frequently used words in German!
1. Merci – thank you 1.Gooten Mogen – Good morning
2. pardon – excuse me 2. "Enchudegen zi Bitte" or "Pardon"
3. auvour – good day 3. Gooten Tag
